Time-burning railway signal-fusee.



LOUIS s. Ross, or ivnw'ronvinnn, MASSACHUSETTS.

TIME] 3UI TING RAILWAY SIGNAL-FUSEE.

wearer. No Drawing.

' Tall whom J1?may concern:

Be it known thatl, LOUIS S. Ross, a citizen oftheUnited States, andresident of Newtonv'ille, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Time-Burning Railway*Signal-Fusees, of which the following description is a specification.

. invention relates to improvements in time burning railway signalfusees, the primary ob ect thereof being to produce a fusee for suchpurpose "that will not spontaneously ignite underconditions to which itis necessarily subjected, which will not be extinguished whenthrown froma moving tram orotherwise sub ected. to severe.

"shock, which insures continuity and tenacity of the-flame afterlighting, and which insuresdepth and intensity of color and a greaterbrillliancy and more'force of flame than any fusee heretofore producedcontaining either chlorate or perchlorate, or,

In most compositions for railway signal fusees produced -PII' to myinvention,

"there have been certain recognized charac;

. teristicsof the ingredients contained in the fusees that render thelatter extremely susceptible to spontaneous ignition, particuj tuted;for: the chlorate in a composit on containing sulfur. I

larly in the'presence ofheat or moisture.

The railways of the United States for' a mumber' of years past havemaintained a bureau for the safe transportation of ,ex-

plosives and other dangerous articles. This i bureau employs chemists toinvestigate questions relating to the manufacture of explosives andother dangerous articles, and

rom time to time makes regulations and issues specifications prescribingthe inherent 40-.

- nal 'fusees.

r'eau, railway signal fusees usually comprise a paper tube of heavy,tough fiber, in which "the'composi'tion is packed, carrying at one end aspike adapted to penetrate the-ra il-' Way ties or bed and having at itsopposite end means for igniting the-fusee. .Railway sig nal'fusees areusually thrown from the rear of a 'movingtrain and arenecessarilytherefore subjected to rough usage. It is. thereforenecessary to have the papertube way signal. fusees heretofore employedhave Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr, 22, 1913.Application filed October 11, 1912. Serial No. 725,343. I

usage withoutbreakage- These fusee paper tubes are thereforemade of.heavy, tough fiber, as stated, and the [railroads require" that thefinished fusee 'must'stand a 'speci-* relatiyely heavy Weight at. itscenter when supported at its ends. One. o'fthe tests of the said bureauis that the fusee after burning a number of seconds in air must burn aspecified time when completely submerged in water. Itis further requiredby the .saidbureau that the fusee must burn a predetermined specifiedlength of time." It must burn with brilliancyv and; force-of" flame andit'must burn under either favorable or unfavorable weather conditions.In; other'words'. the: railway. signal fusee must 6f" sufficientstrength to withstand this i i burn strong Winds or storms or even"pools of water or snowbanks.

'. By reasonzof the necessity of burning the 1 the composition burn withforcean d bril-. hancy, all successful compositions forrailtube inuniformity'with the burning of the "composition 'and also -of thenecessity that contained sulfurfand potassium chlorate l as fundamentalingredients, with the single exception thatv e perchlorate, preferablyperchlorate of' potassium, has been substiburning railway signal fuse'escontainingsulv fur and potassium" chlorate as heretofore icprnbined weresubject-t0 spontaneous igni- 9 .tion and combustion dueto climaticcondi- .tions 'of heat and moisture. and age, because of the presence ofsaid i'ngredient s in the composition, and attempts have been made formany .years by railwayfchemists and 9 others to overcome this seriousdefect. This.

objection has been overcome by me-by the use. of an acid neutralizingagent, as set forth in my PatentNo. l,O 19,190,' dated March 5, 1912.Such spontaneous ignition ha's'beenl attributed to. the production fromsulfur in the presence of heatand moisture of sulfurone and sulfuricacids,"which in the presence of potassium chlorate'decompose the latterand-generate. chlorin peroxid- Th e 1 formation of sulfuric-acid fromsulfur requires the presence of oxygen, which is readily obtained in thebreaking up of the potassium chlorate, whereby heat ,is 1 gen'- erated,accelerating and helping to continue 1 the reaction until a condition isreached that produces spontaneous combustion. The so-called chloratetime burning railway signal fusee is composed of chlorate, sulfur,

carbohydrate and metallic nitrate in suit,- ableproportions. In order toovercome the tendency to spontaneous ignition character: istic of thechlorate fusee, a so-called perchlorate fusee has been madeby'substit-uting perchlorate of potassium for the chlorate of potassium.

A fusee made of mixtures containing a taneous ignition or combustion, Ihave con-.

ducted a series of experiments in order to produce if possible aperchlorate fusee which will notbe readily extinguished :by suddenshock, and the flame of which will burn with increased depth andintensity of color and with greater .brilliancy and more force of flamethan theso-called perchlorate fusee. I have as the result of saidexperiments discovered that. if in addition to a suitable quantity ofpotassium or other suitable perchlorate, such, for example, as barium,sodium or ammonium perchlorate, I employ a small quantity of peroxid,such, for example, as barium peroxid, strontium peroxid, sodium peroxidor any other suitable peroxid, I not only produce a time burning railwaysignal fusee not liable to spontaneous ignition or combustion, but. Iobtain a fusee the temperature of ignition of which is maintained at.the desired high point of 250 C-. or high-er. In' addition I increasethe inflammability .of the fusee compound, increase the tenacity andforce of flame of the fusee composition and increase the depth andintensity of the color and the brilliancy of the flame. This fusee isnot readily extinguished under adverse conditions. Moreover thestability of the perchlorate (by reason of the employment of which theso-called perchlorate fusee is readily extinguished when thrown from atrain or upon receiving a sudden shock) is modified byv the peroxid. sothat the modified fusee is not readily extinguished by sudden shock orwhen thrown from a train.

In addition to the ingredients enumerated, I may employ a small quantityof chlorate, preferably chlorate of potassium, barium, sodium orammonium, not QXCGt-Zfing substantially five per cent. of the entire 1Thesaid chlorate is advancomposition.

perchlorate [tageous when'combined with a in atime burning railwaysignal fusee, inasmuch as such modified perchlorate I fusee will not bereadily extinguished by sudden shock and the flame thereof will burnwith continuity. Chlorate when used as set forth with perchlorate in aperchlorate fusee will not, however, produce increased depth andintensity of color of the flame. Moreover, as far as possible mixturesof chlorate and sulfur should be avoided unless an acid neutralizingagent be employed. These characteristics, namely, the increased depthand intensity of color and the greater brilliancy and more force offlame are imparted thereto, as I have found by my experiments, by theemployment of peroxid as described. Moreover, the-said peroxid not onlyimparts the said characteristics, but when combined with perchlorate thefusee is not'readily extinguishable by sudden shock, and impartstfzontinuity and tenacity to the flame ofthe usee.

Perchlorate fusees as heretofore manutwenty per cent. of potassium orother perchlorate combined with which are nitrate, sulfur andcarbohydrate with charcoal and antimony, if desired, in substantiallythe following proportions: metallic nitrate to 95%, sulfur 3 to 23%,carbohydrate 1 to 11%, charcoal 1%, antimony 1%.

In accordance with my invention, I preferably provide as customary inthe so-called perchlorate fusee, a suitable mixture, of perchlorate(preferably perchlorate of potassium, though I may employ any suitableperchlorate, such for example as barium, sodium or ammoniumperchlorate), sulfur, carbohydrate, hydrocarbon or any other suitablecarbonaceous material, and a metallic salt, such as metallic nitrate oroxid to which if desired I may add charcoal and used'to furnish theprincipal supply of oxygen, the sulfur mainly to increase combuss tion,the carbohydrate and the hydrocarbons 'or carbonaceous material tofurnish carbon. and hydrogen to aidcombustion and to smooth and deepenthe flame, and the metallic salt, preferably that of strontium, bariumor sodium, toconstitute the base or. col-or ingredient.- While theproportions of these ingredientsmay be varied, they may be thosepreviously stated with the admixture of a suitable quantity of peroxid,such, for example, as barium peroxid, strontium' -peroxid or sodiumperoxid or any other suitable peroxid, in a small quantity, preferablynot exceeding substantially eight per cent. of the entire mixture. Thecarbonaceous material preferably employed by me consists of rosin or redgum. charcoal and I sawdust and grease in suitable proportions. iTheredvgu-m employed is the powdered 1 bark of the red gum (E ucalg ptusrostrum),

factured usually contain from five or six to antimony. The perchlorateof'potassium is is'isdditioa, :1 may a a small quantity of, chlorate,such, for example, a's' fchlorate I have obtained sulfur '10 toffcarbohydrate 2' to 7%,

hydrccarbom such as petroleum, paraffin, naphthalene or benzene 1 to 3%,perchlorate of-.potassii1m,'-of barium, of sodium'or of in making aso;called red burning fusee I'- ammonium 5 to 20%. In addition mayemploy a: small quantity of chlorate (of potassium, of barium, ofsodium?" or of, am-

monium) not exceeding substantially five.

per cent;. of thefentire mixture.

burning fusee, II employ barium p'roxid employ strontium peroxid and inmaking a i s c-called yellow sodium perox id'. 30.

Extensive experiments carried out by me have shown thata fusee-composedflS'llGI-Elll 7 disclosed Will sucessfully meet the high tem-'-'perature of ignition test prescribedby the bureau for the safetransportation cf ex.- 5

plosi-vesl' Moreover, such fusee is found to beim-mune from spontaneousignition. If I employ a chlorate as previously stated, I

. preferably introduce the chlorate to the exv tntpf about two or twoand a half per cent. 4o

'tained that the fusee containlng'such quanof the entire'composition,and I have ascertity of chloratecis not liable to spontaneous ignition,as previously set forth. It will be i observed that int-he formulaalcove set forth the quantity or pro 'aortiori of metallic nitrate, ofsulfur and ofperchlorate exceed 1 as essential lngredients a perchlorateand a that of theperoxid, andwitli such relative proportions I- haveobtained the best results.

The time burning railway signal fusee compound embodying my inventioncontains peroxid (any suitable perchlorate and any l suitable peroxi dbeing used) together'with s1'1lfur.

To'this composition I preferably add one or more ,of-.the otheringredients specified byrne," and for the best results I add metallicnitrate' and some suitable car 'bonace'ous' material.

I employ the term carbonaceous material toinclude fhydrocarbons',carbohydrates, carbons and other suitable carbon containing material. I

'- Having thus described one embodiment of. my invention, I desire itjtolie understood" thatjalthmlgh specific terms areyemployed,

'peroxid.

Preferably-in making a so-call led green burning fusee l' employ -ofperox1d1less in amount than the 'sulfur;

the-following claims.v I

irflClaims 1. A time burning material, sulfur, perchlorate, and peroxid.

v1 -Q'. A "time burning railway signal fusee comprising a. metallicn1trate,: carbonaceous railway signal fusee" I comprising a metallicnitrate, carbonaceous "sense and not for purposes of limitation,the-scope of the invention being setforthin material, sulfur,perchlorate and strontium 3. time burning railway signal fusee includingsulfur, perchlorate and peroxid.

at. A; time burning railway signal fusee i'ncluding' sulfu'r,perchlorate, and peroxid, the said ingredients beingcombined in suchproportionsfas to produce a time burning.

.railWay signal .1 fuse'e compound burning with brilliancy, tenacity,intensity and force of flame, and not liable to spontaneous igni tion orcombustion.

comprising metallic nitrate, carbonaceous '5. A. time" burning railwaysignal.. fusee. including sulfur, perchlorate, canb'onaceou's zma terialand peroxid. v J6. A time burning railway signal fusee material, sulfur,perchlorate and a quantity .7. A time burning railway signal fuseecomprising metallic nitrate, carbonaceous material, sulfur, perchlorateand a quantity of peroxid less in amount than the metallic nitrate. 8.'A time burningrailway signal fusee comprising metallic nitrate, sulfur,carbohydrate, hydrocarbon, perchlorate and peroxid.

"9. A time burning railway signal fusee comprising metallic nitrate,sulfur, carbonaceous material, perchlorate, and not to exceed eight percent. of peroxid.

'' 10, time burning rallway signal fusee com'prising a metallic,nitrate, carbonaceous material, sulfur, perchlorate and a small quantityof peroxid,j not exceeding substantially eight'per cent. of the entirecomposition, the ingredients: being combined in such proportions as toproduce a time burning railway jS-i-gnal fusee compound bu-rning withbrilli ancy, tenacity, intensityand force of flame, and not liable tospontaneous ignition or combustion.

' 11. A time burning rail way signal 'fusee comprising fifty to eightyper cent. metallic nitrate, ten to fifteen per cehtsulfur, three totenpercent. carbonaceous material, five to twenty per cent. perchlorateand a uantity of peroxid notexceeding substantially eight per cent. ofthe entire composition. v 1 v 12. A time. burning railway signal fuseeincluding sulfur, perchlorate and a small quantity of peroxidnotexceedi'ng substantiallyeight per cent, of the entire composiitstion, thereby produeingfaftimeburnmg ilmy signal fusee compound burningwith rilliancy, tenacity, intensity of color and orce of flame, and notliable to spontaneous gnition or combustion.

13. A time burning railway signal fusee omprising a metallic nitrate,carbohydrate,

ulfur, perchlorate, a small quantity of hlorate, and peroxid',.producinga readily gnitible, free burning, railway signal com- -o'und havingbrilliancy and force of flame nd which is not subject to spontaneousombustion.

14:. A time burning railway signal fusee omprising a metallic nitrate,carbohydrate,

ulfur, perchlorate, a small quantity of po-' :ompound having brilliancyand force 'of' .lame, and which is not subject to spontaieouscombustion.

16. A time burning railway signal fusee comprising a metallic nitrate, acarbohydrate, sulfur, perchlorate, a percentage of potassium chlorateless than the percentage of either the nitrate, sulfur or perchlorate,and a small quantity of peroxid not exceeding substantially eight percent. of the entire composition, thereby producing a readily ignitibleand free burning railway signal fusee compound, having brilliancy andforce of flame, and'which is not subject to spontaneous combustion.

17. A time burning railway signal fusee including sulfur, perchlorate,carbonaceous material and peroxid, the ingredients be? ing combined insuch proportions as to produce a time burning railway signalfuseecompound burnlng with brllliancy, tenaclty,

intensity and force of flame, and not liable to spontaneous ignition orcombustion.

In testimony whereof, I have signed-my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS s. ROSS.

- \Vitnesses IRVING U. TOWNSEND, ROBERT H. KAMMLER.

